Faerûnian Prestige Class : Hathran
In the distant and exotic land of Rashemen, a sisterhood of powerful spellcasters, both arcane and divine, battles to protect its people from the depredations of Thay and to guide their spiritual lives. These hathrans, or Witches of Rashemen, as they are more commonly known, are the power behind the throne in their homeland far to the east, and their mystical prowess there is extremely potent. Hathrans traveling outside Rashemen always wear masks to conceal their faces from the outside world.
Most hathrans are drawn from members of the sorcerer or cleric classes. Bards, wizards, and druids are rare but not unheard of among hathrans, but paladins and rangers are practically non-existent within the sisterhood. Regardless of their original classes, hathrans consider rivalry between spellcasters to be utterly foolish, and they hold no grudge against any of their sisters for the origin of their spells.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Hathran, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Gender: Female
- Alignment: Lawful good, lawful neutral or neutral good
- Skills: Knowledge (Rashemen local) 4 ranks.
- Feats: Ethran, Leadership,
- Spellcasting: Able to cast 4th level arcane or divine spells.
- Patron: Chauntea, Mielikki, or Mystra.
- Special: The candidate must be a member in good standing of the Witches of Rashemen, and she may not possess any item creation feats other than Scribe Scroll.
- Region: Rashemen
Class Skills
The hathran's class skills are Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Knowledge (all skills taken individually), Perform, Profession, Speak Language, Spellcraft, Survival, and Swim.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the hathran prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Hathrans gain proficiency with the whip, but not with any other weapons, nor with any armor or shields. Armor check penalties for armor heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand, and Tumble, and double the normal armor check penalty applies to Swim checks.
Spells per Day/Spells Known: When a new hathran level is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in whatever spellcasting class granted her access to 4th-level spells before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus metamagic or item creation feats, improved chance of turning or rebuking undead, and so on), except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. This essentially means that she adds the level of hathran to the level of whatever other spellcasting class granted her access to 4th-level spells, then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly.
If a character had more than one spellcasting class that granted access to 4th-level spells before she became a hathran, she must decide to which class she adds each level of hathran for the purpose of determining spells per day and spells known.
Additionally, a small number of spells are added to the hathran's class list for any spellcasting classes in which she can cast 4th-level spells.
Leadership Bonus (Ex): Beginning at 1st level, the hathran gains a +2 bonus to her Leadership score for the purpose of recruiting a cohort, with the following restriction: The cohort must be Rashemi and must either be a female with the Ethran feat or a male with at least one level in barbarian.
Rashemi Spirit Magic (Ex): A hathran's training in the unique magic of her homeland gives her uncanny versatility. Beginning at 1st level, a hathran who prepares spells may choose to spontaneously cast any spell she knows in place of any spell of the same level that she has prepared, even if it is not on the same spell list as the substituted one. If the hathran normally does not prepare spells, she may instead utilize metamagic feats without the additional casting time normally required, though a spell so altered still uses up a higher-level spell slot, as normal. The hathran must be within the boundaries of Rashemen to use this ability, and there is no limit to the number of times she may do so.
Taboo: In Rashemi society, the crafting of magic items is left strictly to male spellcasters. With the exception of the Scribe Scroll feat, no hathran may select item creation feats.
Spirit Speech (Su): At 2nd level, the hathran gains the ability to speak to and understand any creature with the spirit subtype. This ability functions regardless of the language that the hathran and the spirit actually use to converse. The hathran also gains a +2 bonus on any Charisma-based skill or ability checks made when dealing with spirits.
Awe of the Wychlaran (Ex): At 3rd level, the hathran radiates such power and authority that her fellow Rashemi find it difficult to act against her. Any character from the Rashemen region whose character level is lower than or equal to that of the hathran takes a -2 penalty on attack rolls and opposed skill checks made against her. This penalty increases to -4 at 7th level and to -6 at 10th level.
Universal Spirit Magic (Ex): At 3rd level, the hathran's affinity for spirit magic is such that she can commune with spirits outside of Rashemen. Once per day, she may use her Rashemi spirit magic ability outside of Rashemen. The hathran can use this ability twice per day at 6th level and three times per day at 9th level.
Spirit Concordat (Ex): At 4th level, the hathran casts all spells in the planar ally spell chain at +1 caster level.
Circle Leader (Ex): At 5th level, the hathran can become a circle leader and act as the focus for Rashemi circle magic. See details on circle magic.
Spirit Dominion: At 8th level, the hathran casts all spells in the planar binding spell chain at +1 caster level.
Great Circle Leader (Ex): By the time the hathran reaches 10th level, she has mastered the art of circle magic and can lead a great circle. A great circle can have a total of nine assistants instead of five.
Hathran Spell List
The following spells are added to the hathran's class spell list for any arcane or divine spellcasting class that allows her access to 4th-level spells.
- 0 Level: Naturewatch.
- 1st Level: Low-light vision, scatterspray.
- 2nd Level: Flame dagger, moonbeam, one with the land.
- 3rd Level: Flashburst, moon blade.
- 4th Level: Land womb, lesser planar ally.
- 5th Level: Lesser planar binding, moon path.
- 6th Level: Planar ally, planar binding.
- 8th Level: Greater planar binding.
| Hathran | Hit Dice: d4 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spells per Day |
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Leadership bonus, Rashemi spirit magic, taboo | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Spirit speech | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 3rd | +1 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Awe of the wychlaran -2, universal spirit magic 1/day | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 4th | +2 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Spirit concordat | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 5th | +2 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Circle leader | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 6th | +3 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Universal spirit magic 2/day | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 7th | +3 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Awe of the wychlaran -4 | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 8th | +4 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Spirit dominion | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 9th | +4 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Universal spirit magic 3/day | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
| 10th | +5 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Awe of the wychlaran -6 | +1 level of existing spellcasting class |
Ex-Hathrans
A hathran who violates her alignment, commits an act of treason against Rashemen or the wychlaran, or takes any item creation feat except Scribe Scroll can no longer advance in the hathran prestige class. Furthermore, she loses the benefits of her Leadership bonus, Rashemi spirit magic, and other abilities of the prestige class that relate to Rashemi. An atonement spell cast by a cleric of an appropriate deity is sufficient to restore her class abilities and advancement potential. If the violation involved an item creation feat, the hathran must swear a solemn oath never to use the feat.
Epic Hathran
As far as outsiders know, there are no hathrans above the rank of othlor among the Witches of Rashemen. But the outsiders are wrong. Those few hathrans who exceed this level of power keep their identities secret and often disappear from public view. They may continue to work from behind the scenes, but more likely they travel incognito to distant lands or planes of existence in search of greater knowledge.
The epic hathran has perhaps the widest array of bonus feats available to any class. Her choice of feats depends largely on her spellcasting preference (arcane or divine). Former clerics might select Bonus Domain or Improved Alignment-Based Casting, while hathrans who were once arcane spellcasters probably lean toward improving their metamagic capabilities. Regardless of a hathran's background, general feats such as Epic Spell Focus and Epic Spell Penetration come in very handy, and she can't go wrong with Improved Spell Capacity.
An epic hathran should focus on increasing the ability score that controls her spellcasting, whether that is intelligence. Wisdom, or Charisma. Since hathrans are multiclass spellcasters, an occasional bump to her secondary spellcasting ability score is a reasonable second choice.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Spells: The epic hathran's caster level increases by 1 for every level higher than 10th. Her spells per day and spells known do not increase after 10th level.
Universal Spirit Magic: The epic hathran gains one additional use per day of this ability for every three levels higher than 9th (four times per day at 12th level, five times per day at 11th level, and six times per day at 18th level).
Bonus Feats: The epic hathran gains a bonus feat, selected from the list below, for every two levels higher than 10th. She must meet any prerequisites for a feat in order to select it.
Epic Hathran Bonus Feat List: Augmented Alchemy, Automatic Quicken Spell, Automatic Silent Spell, Automatic Still Spell, Bonus Domain, Enhance Spell, Epic Leadership, Epic Spell Focus, Epic Spell Penetration, Epic Spellcasting, Familiar Spell, Ignore Material Components, Improved Alignment-Based Casting, Improved Combat Casting, Improved Heighten Spell, Improved Metamagic, Improved Spell Capacity, Intensify Spell, Multispell, Permanent Emanation, Scribe Epic Scroll, Spell Opportunity, Spell Stowaway, Spontaneous Domain Access, Spontaneous Spell, Tenacious Magic.
| Epic Hathran | Hit Dice: d4 |
|---|---|
| CL | Special |
| 11th | - |
| 12th | Bonus feat, universal spirit magic 4/day |
| 13th | - |
| 14th | Bonus feat |
| 15th | Universal spirit magic 5/day |
| 16th | Bonus feat |
| 17th | - |
| 18th | Bonus feat, universal spirit magic 6/day |
| 19th | - |
| 20th | Bonus feat |
Source: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Player's Guide to Faerûn